Boutique Discussion Boards

I know everybody is tired of hearing me talk about what I call the ‘Boutique’ Discussion boards but now they seem to be everywhere and I can’t find a good board where the topic of the day isn’t about what Jean Jackets look cool or what helmet makes you look less like a nerd or what brand of boots you need to buy to be hip. The worse threads all start out like ‘Post your ride’ or ‘Post pictures of old Diggers’ and other weirdness. I never imagined that bike boards would become repositories for pictures that are already spread all over the Internet.

The other thing I’ve noticed is threads that look like something interesting at first glance and then become just a place for somebody to try and sell something.

Perhaps the worse of all are boards that pretend to be discussion boards but are really just ‘fronts’ for a larger commercial organization. Most folks know what I’m talking about here so I don’t need to mention any names. This is an old game that goes way back in time when part manufacturers used to start a chopper magazine just so they’d have a place to promote their goods and collect advertising revenue at the same time. It was a pretty sweet deal and a scam that’s still going on today in the digital world with respect to some of the online chopper sites and chopper boards.

Thankfully some of the old time boards are still around that cater to the more serious Biker like the ‘Horse’, the ‘Chopper Compendium’ and the ‘Jockey Journal’. I’m sure there are more good places to be but these were at the top of my list for folks who have serious questions that need to be answered. There are also some really good non-commercial blogs run by folks who do have a commercial interest but don’t shove it down your throat. I’m thinking here about the blog that Irish Rich runs but I can’t remember the name, I think it’s something like ‘Applied Machete’. I’ll dig it up.